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11/21/18

Imaginext Man Ray Hot Rod

The Imaginext Man Ray Hot Rod set is, for reasons I cannot begin to understand, something of a rarity. Few people ever saw it at retail (I did, once, about four years ago at a Barnes and Noble. I passed on it assuming I'd see it cheaper somewhere else and never saw it again anywhere.) It isn't particularly special (it isn't like Man Ray has a huge fan following or anything) but it's a fun nod to superheroes and supervillains and their cool cars. I don't particularly enjoy SpongeBob but I love the whole Mermaid-Man schtick.
Anyways, the set became a bit of a 'white whale' for many, myself included, as it was never widely distributed and rarely showed up on the secondary market.
And if it did appear on eBay on that rare occasion, the asking price was ridiculous.

But I kept my ear to the proverbial ground, hoping to someday at least stumble onto Man Ray himself at a garage sale or something (I mean some damn kid has GOT to have this in their toy box somewhere in this vast nation of ours, right?)
I even signed up on Fisher-Price's website to be alerted if it ever became available on a retailer's website.
Then suddenly the other day I got an email saying exactly that. It was available on Amazon FOR RETAIL PRICE! I couldn't believe it, but I placed an order in the hopes that miracles do happen. After placing my order it dawned on me that I should have bought two, but when I went back to do so it was sold out!
Meanwhile a few fellow crazy Imaginext collectors on a Facebook page I follow had been able to get an order in (many did not) and it has bounced in and out of stock a few times since then. They started to arrive for the lucky few who got an order in but I still didn't believe I'd get one. Until I did! It arrived a couple weeks ago and I honestly still can't bring myself to open it!
Of course now they're popping up on ebay for still ridiculous prices as people actually get them in their hands. There are more auctions for them today than I've ever seen in all the years I've been looking for this set combined. And I just can't imagine why the set was hard to find in the first place, and why it's just trickling onto Amazon now. But toy collectors know there are vast mysteries behind the scenes and we take what we can get when we can get it!
As for the set itself, it's great. Man Ray is a fun supervillain parody, especially with the Aquaman movie on the horizon which is sure to ignite all things superaquatic. Also included is Dirty Bubble which is a fun bonus and it's great to have two villains to go against Mermaid-Man and Barnacle-Boy. The car itself is cartoon perfect. It looks like it rolled right off the screen. And since we're likely never going to see an Invisible Boat (because it's invisible, natch) this Hot Rod is the next best thing.

I think the toys r us debacle put the skids on a lot of the Teen Titans imaginext releases, and all the imaginext Jurassic Park stuff is merrily clogging what remaining retail space is available, but they'll pop up somewhere someday. At least I hope, because I also want that Cinderblock!

I wonder If things like this happened to toy collectors back in the 80's.As a kid walking up and down the toy aisles there always seemed to be an abundance of everything.Not sure how the playing field was for adults who collected toys back then ,though.

Oh I remember plenty of things that were hard or impossible to find. I literally only ever saw Bumblebee at retail once, after looking for him for what seemed like forever. Finally found him at a Walgreens or someshit on an out of state visit to Grandma's house.